ABOUT OLD DOMINION: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team enters Thursday's game with a 3-2 overall record splitting the weekend with a win at Temple and a loss at No. 18/19 Rutgers. Old Dominion is led by senior Caroline Jacobs with 11 goals and three assists. The fourth year Lady Monarchs also lead the team in groundballs (19) and caused turnovers (11). Fellow classmate Katie Veneziale is second on the stat sheet with 10 goals and four assists. She also leads the squad with 16 draw controls. In net, junior Sara Larson has started all five games and is posting a 10.11 goals against average and .495 save percentage. She just reset her career save mark with 12 against the Scarlet Knights.

SERIES VS. RICHMOND: Old Dominion is 22-11 all-time versus the Spiders.

ABOUT RICHMOND: The Spiders enter Thursday's contest with a 5-4 overall record coming off a double overtime loss to Towson, 10-9, on Sunday. That loss snapped a two-game win streak and was the second overtime game for the Spiders this season. Mandy Friend leads Richmond with 28 goals and four assists over the Spiders' nine games thus far. Allison Furstenburg is second in scoring with 22 goals and eight assists. In between the pipes, Jackie Swansburg has started all nine games posting a 2.64 goals against average and .500 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. RICHMOND: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team had its two-game win streak end last March 15th despite hanging neck-and-neck with the 10th ranked team in the country through much of the first half of play. Richmond used a seven goal rally in the second part of the half however en route to its 22-10 victory over Old Dominion. Kelly Kimener led the Lady Monarchs with three goals while Caroline Jacobs added in two. Five other Lady Monarchs found the back of the Spider net in the loss as well. Jacobs also scooped up a game-high seven groundballs and led the team in caused turnovers with two. For Richmond, leading Spider scorer Mandy Friend collected 10 goals in the victory, while Caroline McGuire added in three. Neither team held on to more than a one goal lead in the early goings of the opening half. The Spiders held on to a 4-3 lead 8:49 into the contest, however the Lady Monarchs used two quick goals to turn the tables and take a 5-4 advantage. Former Lady Monarch Tameka Davis tied the game at 4-4 nine minutes in and nearly 45 secons later Kimener found the back of the Spider net to give Old Dominion the lead. After Kimener's goal, Richmond rattled off seven straight goals to end the first half and registered another goal in the early part of the second half to control of the lead for good. After swapping goals through the first seven minutes of action in the second half, the Spiders went on another run to build to the lead. Sara Allen collected two goals in Richmond's five goal rally before it was broken up by Ashley Stanwick at the 50 minute mark. Stanwick's goal saw the Lady Monarchs score three unanswered with the other two coming from the sticks of Jacobs and Kimener. In goal, both former Lady Monarch Michelle Gannon and current netminder Sara Larson saw time with Gannon posting 12 saves. In net for the Spiders, Jackie Swansburg recorded five stops.

LOOKING AROUND THE CAA: Several Lady Monarchs are ranked among their Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) peers. Senior Caroline Jacobs and Katie Veneziale are both eighth in the league in goals per game. Jacobs is also eighth in points per game, while Veneziale checks in at 10th. Freshman Ashley Kellogg is tied for fourth in game-winning goals. Jacobs also checks in at number two in the conference in groundball and caused turnovers per game. Veneziale is second in the CAA in draw controsl per game. In net, Sara Larson is ranked fifth in goals against average, fourth in save percentage, and third in saves per game.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING: Senior Caroline Jacobs is currently second nationally in groundballs per game and 12th in the nation in groundball per gamer. Senior Katie Veneziale is ninth in the country in draw controls.

MOVING ON UP: Senior midfielder Caroline Jacobs' performance of five goals and an assist against American moved her into seventh on the ODU all-time points leaders list and moved into the top 10 on the all-time on the goals leaders list. Her performance this past weekend at Temple and Rutgers moved her into a tied on the points leaders list with Carly Brown (1995-98) with 133 career points. Her scoring this past weekend also moved her one notch on the goals leaders list to the ninth position on the list.

THE ROOKIE: Freshman Ashley Kellogg was the lone member of the freshman class that head coach Sue Stahl placed in the season opening starting line-up. In her first appearance in a Lady Monarch uniform Kellogg was one of five goals scorers capturing the game-winner at the 9:32 mark of the first half in last week's 14-6 win over American. Kellogg currently leads the Lady Monarchs with game-winning goals having put in her second career game-winner against Temple last Saturday.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Richmond will mark the fifth and final game of the Lady Monarchs road trip that began way back on March 11th. When the trip is over, Old Dominion will have traveled nearly 1,700 miles with trips to Baltimore (UMBC), Chapel Hill (UNC), Piscataway, New Jersey (Rutgers), Philadelphia (Temple) and Richmond (Richmond).

RANK 'EM UP: Rutgers marked the second ranked team the Lady Monarchs haved faced this season. Old Dominion also faced top-ranked North Carolina in its other ranked match-up this season.

POW: Old Dominion senior midfielder Caroline Jacobs was named a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Co-Player of the Week for the week ending March 7th. Jacobs captured five goals and an assist her 2007 debut and also led the way for the Lady Monarchs in groundballs, draw controls, and caused turnovers. The fourth year Lady Monarch scooped up a game-high four groundballs, caused a game-high three turnovers, and tied for the lead in draw registering four. It is Jacobs' second CAA weekly honor also earning the award for the week ending April 24th of her sophomore season in 2005. It was during final week of the regular season that Jacobs poured in nine goals and three assists as the Lady Monarchs dropped two close games to nationally ranked opponents, #20 William & Mary and #9 North Carolina to earn her first CAA Player of the Week distinction.

UP NEXT: The Lady Monarchs return home to Foreman Field for the first time in five games to host Virginia on Wednesday, April 4th. Game-time is set for 3:00 p.m. The Cavaliers are currently ranked fourth in both the IWLCA Poll and Inside Lacrosse Poll.